American cheese
American cheese (also called a cheese slice or processed cheese) is a kind of pasteurized processed cheese. Usually, it has a mild taste. Originally, it was white, and made by mixing other kinds of cheese, most often cheddar cheese and Swiss.
It is no longer produced by mixing existing kinds of cheeses, but by using a number of ingredients. In many countries, including the US, processed cheese is licensed differently to "real" cheese. American cheese may therefore not be sold as "cheese", but as "processed cheese".
On the label, the word cheese is often left out, and the product is labeled "American slices", "slices" or similar. Since this kind of processed cheese is very common in the United States, it is often used to refer to all kinds of processed cheese. All the same, the term "American cheese" does have a legal definition in the American Code of Federal Regulations.
